Patient release proof positioning means



July 3, 1962 J. J. REED 3,042,031

PATIENT RELEASE PROOF POSITIONING MEANS Filed March 4, 1960 Jmvsr J R550. I INVENTOR F /g. 6 By fwzye [fl/dwm ATTORNEY United States Fatent @hfice 3,d42,tl3l Fatented July 3, 1962 3,942,031 PATEENT RELEASE PROOF PGSITIUNING MEANS Janet J. Reed, R0. Box 5432, Pasadena, Calif. Filed Mar. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 12,769 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-134) This invention relates to restraining belt means intended to keep persons requiring supervision from getting up from or falling off hospital beds or lounge chairs and the like since they may otherwise wander away or fall and cause injury to themselves if free from restraint and observation.

The invention is primarily designed for use in the care of senile aged persons, or mentally incompetent and feeble subjects, but the means of my invention may be adapted to other uses as will later appear.

The care of senile old people necessitates continual watchfulness since the subject while generally tractable often has fits of restlessness, and has little or no judgment, thus when left unattended in a chair near a window he may suddenly get out of the chair and try to open or shut the window incurring the danger of falling through it or, when left sitting up in bed, may get up and try to walk down a flight of steps with a very good chance of falling down them.

Such subjects in properly equipped nursing homes are therefore usually restrained in their beds or lounge chairs by belts, but such restraint is irksome to the patient and he expends much eifort in trying to release the belt.

Many different forms of such belts are in use but all of them to the best of my knowledge require that the attendant take special care in wrapping buckles and other securing parts with adhesive tape or other binding to keep the patient from undoing them. Such additional precautions involve the expenditure of time and extra expense and are generally inconvenient and undesirable.

It is an object of my invention to provide novel restraining means of the kind described which is simple to use and which requires no additional manipulation to render it safe against release by the subject.

A further object of my invention is to provide such restraining means which are free of cumbersome buckles or other parts pressing against the body of the subject and which will leave him free to sit up or change his posture while retaining him securely in the bed or on the lounge chair.

Another object of my invention is to provide restraining means for the purpose escribed, which may be partly released by the attendant releasing a single element, of the restraining means, to enable the subject to be turned over in bed for a sponge bath or other service.

Another object of my invention is to provide restraining means of the kind described which are efficient for their purpose and simple and inexpensive to produce and maintain.

Still further features and objects of my invention will hereinafter appear from the following description and accompanying illustrative drawings of preferred embodiments thereof.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, substantially full size, of a disc with looped metal attaching shank secured therein forming the length adjusting member of the securing means of my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 showing a length of strap, having a series of holes toward each end, which is looped around the waist of the body of the subject as a belt and maintained in adjusted length by use of the disc and shank shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 3 and 4 show in side elevation and plan respectively a split spring ring used to attach further lengths of strap to the adjusted body strap.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 but showing a disc and attaching member of pliable material.

FIGURE 6 shows the restraining means of my inven tion in use, the head portion only of an occupied bed being shown.

FIGURE 7 is a plan view substantially half size showing a simple tool aiding in opening the split spring ring and for retaining the rings and sections of the restraining means together when not in use.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of elements of the restraining means arranged to serve as a leash.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 2, lengths of body belt strap 1% are provided, the strap being perforated along its median line with a series of preferably round holes 11 large enough for the passage of the looped shank 12 of a rigid disc 13.

The belt strap 10 may be of any suitable material such as a vinyl plastic since this material is strong, durable, and easily cleaned.

Discs 13 of the form shown in FIGURE 1 may be made of metal with a center hole 14. The discs 13 are provided with shanks 12 made of relatively heavy wire having the ends 15 bent outward and bearing against the back of the discs 13.

A split spring ring 16 with concealed ends, FIGURES 3 and 4, is engaged with the loop of shank 12 and serves both to retain the belt strap 10 at the size of opening desired and also for the connection of 13 lengths 17, 18 (see FIGURE 6) of strap apertured similarly to the body belt strap and by which the body belt on the subject may be secured to the frame of a bed or heavy easy chair and the like. The side straps 17, .18 are tensioned in r looped length also by additional discs 13a and split rings 19 and 20 similar to ring 16. If desired a washer, indicated in dotted lines in FIGURE 3, may be positioned between loop 12 and strap 10, to reduce wear between the body strap 10 and looped shank 12.

A second ring 21 is used to attach the securing strap to the side of the belt strap 10 opposite ring 16, though this ring need not be split if a single length of belt strap is used passed through the ring. If it is preferred to use two shorter lengths of belt strap than required for circling the body, the ends being overlapped, the second ring may be a split spring or ring, a disc with looped shank utilized in a manner identical to that described with reference to ring 16.

The reason that split spring rings are utilized is that the type of subject for which the restraining means of my invention is particularly intended has little manual skill or strength so that while the rings may be readily manipulated by an attendant the subject would be unable to do so since no amount of twisting, pulling or picking will release the ring from the loo 12 of the shank.

Since the rings 16a and 21, see FIG. 6, are pulled away from the body of the subject there is little likelihood of the metal disc pressing into the subjects skin as the securing straps 17, 18 cannot loosen, but there is a possibility that these straps may not initially be adequately tensioned and the subject may in turning on his side lie on a ring and disc 13 with its shank 12.

The form of disc shown in FIGURE 5 ensures that no metal can be pressed against the subjects skin except possibly the split spring rings and since these are perfectly smooth and relatively large in diameter no discomfort can be caused.

The disc 24 shown in FIGURE 5 may be made from a tough but somewhat pliable plastic. The disc 24 and one 3 piece or two piece body belt straps 25, 25a are slotted at equidistant intervals as indicated at 26 and 27.

The looped shank used within the metal disc is replaced by a connector piece 28 of the same or similar material as belt 25 molded in U shape with holes at eachend through which the split ring 16a may be threaded. The additional securing straps and rings may obviously be arranged as previously described since they do not come in contact with the body of the subject.

The patient locating means of my invention is shown in use in FIGURE 6 which shows a subject resting cornfortably asleep with the "body belt strap shown as a single length 29 passed through a ring 21 on the left of the waist and with the ends of the belt overlapped on the right side. A disc 24 of the kind shown in FIGURE and connecting piece 2 8 adjust the fit of the belt strap and the ring 16a is threaded through the holes in the ends of the connecting piece 28.

Securing straps 17 and 18 are looped through rings 16a and 21 at opposite sides of the subjects waist, tensioned over the edge of the mattress 3d, bed frame 31 and secured by discs 13a inserted between the down run of the straps and their overlapped ends with looped stems 12a projecting through the apertures in the overlapped ends and retained in place by split spring rings 19 and 20.

Since split spring rings may be difficult to open, any convenient implement such as a nail file can be used to push between the turns of the ring, to open them. A convenient implement 32 is shown in FIGURE 7 and comprises a strip of metal having thinner edge portions 33 provided toward one end for prying apart an end portion of a turn of the ring to enable it to be entered in the loop 12 or holes in the connector piece 28. The handle end 34 of the implement is provided with a hole 35 in which the split spring rings can be carried when the restraining belt is not in use. The implement 32 can be hung on the bed, in a position out of reach of the subject, ready for use. One of the edge portions 33 may be sharpened to a cutting edge to enable the implement 3 2 to be used to cut through the belt strap to release the subject in case of extreme urgency such as when in danger from fire.

The elements of the restraining means may be utilized as a leash if necessary when taking the subject for walks by releasing the retaining straps from the bed frame but leaving one of them attached to the body belt strap and using it as a leash.

FIGURE 8 shows the body strap 2%, and retaining and adjusting member 24a, split spring ring 16a and one securing strap 17 with disc 18a, looped stem 12a and ring 19 arranged to be used as a leash. The leash arrangement is quickly set up by releasing the securing straps 17 and 18 in FIGURE 6 from the bed frame and re-attaching strap 17 to the body belt strap by using disc 13a and split spring ring 19.

The split spring rings utilized in my invention are an article of commerce and are formed as a helix of two superposed turns of spring wire which is jogged between the turns so that the free ends lie flat against the jogged portion of the ring, see FIG. 3, and are therefore difficult for the patient to locate and open. While the split spring rings have been found very satisfactory for the required purpose of providing a resiliently closed retaining memher which cannot be released by the type of subjects for which the restraining means are intended, it will be obvious that other forms of such retaining members other than split spring rings may be utilized and the term resiliently closed loop means is intended to include any such other forms, provided they are of such construction that they are too difficult to open by the type of patient for which the restraining belt is intended.

The elements of the restraining means of my invention may be arranged in other ways than those specifically described, for instance the body belt portion may be permanently sewn to a retaining portion adapted to extend across the bed and be looped at its ends around the bed frame, the body portion and looped ends being held in adjusted position by the securing means described.

Preferred embodiments of my invention have been described and shown in the drawings by way of illustration but not as limitative of the invention since various changes and modifications may be made in the described embodiment by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

A patient release-proof positioning device comprising: waist strap means having perforations therein and adapted to encircle the patients waist;

adjusting members each having a looped stern and an enlarged base permanently mounted on said stem, the stem of at least one of said adjusting members being adapted to be inserted through overlying perforations to adjust the waist strap means in a close fit around the patients waist;

retaining split spring metal rings having the ends of the ring aligned with the ring and concealed by a perpendicularly offset portion of the ring, said retaining rings being adapted to be worked into the loops of the stems of the adjusting members;

and a pair of side straps having perforations therein and adapted to be passed around the bed frame and connected to the waist strap means'at each side of the patients waist and secured in position by further of said adjusting members passed through overlying perforations of said side straps and retained in adjusted position by further of said split spring metal rings worked into the loops of said further adjusting members, the parts of the device being thereby positively joined to form a unitary device, effective when in operative position to prevent the patient from moving his body toward either side of the bed and from moving toward the head and foot of the bed, and from releasing said device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

